High court upholds Pa. trooper's murder conviction

INDIANA, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of a former state trooper serving life in prison for the slashing death of his live-in girlfriend’s estranged husband in western Pennsylvania.

Attorneys for 46-year-old Kevin Foley contend evidence about bloody footprints found near the body of Blairsville dentist John Yelenic’s were used to inflame the jury. Prosecutors say the footprints matched athletic shoes Foley was known to wear and a Superior Court panel agreed last year.

The Supreme Court has now refused to hear an appeal of that ruling, which also noted Foley’s DNA was found under Yelenic’s fingernails.

Foley killed Yelenic April 13, 2006, a day before he was to sign papers in a divorce so acrimonious that Yelenic’s attorney tried unsuccessfully to get the divorce decree issued after his death.